HP gets back into the tablet business, unveils $169 Android-powered Slate 7 coming in April

After the whole TouchPad debacle, HP is trying its hand at the tablet thing one more time. This time though, it isn’t webOS doing the powering, but Android. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, to be precise.

And the tablet is called HP Slate 7. As its name implies, it’s a 7-incher. It will be in stores in the US in April, and will cost just $169. That’s $30 less than the Asus Nexus 7, but is saving $30 really worth it? Ultimately, that will be up to you of course.

The HP Slate 7 has a 7-inch 1,024×600 touchscreen, a 1.6 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, a 3 MP rear camera, a VGA front camera, Beats Audio, and preinstalled HP ePrint app. The frame is made out of stainless steel and the tablet is 10.7 mm thick. It will be available in grey or red.

Compared to the Nexus 7, the Slate 7 has a rear camera and a microSD card slot. However, its processor is only dual-core, its touchscreen is lower-res, and it’s one version of Android behind. Sure, the Slate 7 runs stock-ish Android too, but if you care about OS updates the Nexus 7 is clearly worth the price. If you don’t necessarily care about such things but want the cheapest possible brand name tablet that runs Android, the HP Slate 7 will do.